By Michael N. Christakis Ph.D.’99

I have the good fortune of returning to campus at least twice a year these days; once for Reunion in the summer and again in the fall for Homecoming. This May will mark 10 years since I crossed the stage with my classmates, and while much has changed in a decade at AU, much still remains the same.

Visiting campus twice a year reminds me of that fact each time I drive into town, and each time I drive out of town, there’s the campus that I called home for four years nestled on a hill. “Academic Alley” is a path traversed by decades of AU students to and from classes daily, and is made up of an eclectic mix of buildings - new and old. I distinctly remember the creak of the stairs in Kanakadea Hall, the scrawls on the desks in Seidlin Hall, the rain spots on the windows in Myers Hall. I recall the newness of the Olin Building and the way that the Miller Performing Arts Center rose up out of the hill in my first year on campus.

But buildings are buildings. Otherwise lifeless were it not for the people that occupy them and the interactions that we have while occupying them. The creaky stairs in Kanakadea wouldn’t amount to much had I not been rushing up them for an advisement appointment with Dr. Stuart Campbell or skipping down them for a discussion seminar with Dr. Gary Ostrower ‘61. The scrawls on the desks in Seidlin and the rain spots on the windows in Myers are meaningless if not for the personal attention given to me by the likes of (the late) Carol Burdick or Dr. Rob Williams. Even the newer more pristine Olin Building offered me the platform to interact with the likes of Drs. Tom Rasmussen, Robert Heineman, and Karen Porter.

While people come and go, those fond recollections always remain the same. Our recollections initially drift to “where” we were, and then quickly refocus on “who” we were with. After all, the buildings that remain are little more than gift boxes that contain our experiences and interactions with renowned faculty. The real gift within are the poignant moments that characterize our individual Alfred memories with caring faculty that shaped us. The academic excellence I found as a student at AU, that hundreds of thousands of students discovered before me and that countless more have experienced after me, rests with the people that make up our collective “Alfred experience.”

I hope you’ll join us on campus for Reunion 2009 - June 12 - 14, 2009 - to revisit and remember who shaped your Alfred experience.

Until next time… Fiat Lux!

Tags: Alfred Alumni Association, Alfred University, Michael Christakis

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 3:54 pm and is filed under AU Courant. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.